The mini war of words between former Force India driver Adrian Sutil and his F1 colleague Lewis Hamilton continued when the German driver's father reportedly described Hamilton's behaviour over his son's recent GBH trial "pathetic".
Sutil and Hamilton were known to be close friends in the F1 paddock, but the McLaren driver recently withdrew from an appearance as a witness in Sutil's case.The German was accused of assaulting Lotus co-owner Eric Lux in a Chinese nightclub last year, whilst celebrating Hamilton's win in the Chinese Grand Prix with the British driver.
Hamilton declined to attend the court hearing, stating that he had a prior engagement with McLaren. Sutil went on to be found guilty, and handed a 18-month suspended sentence and a 200,000 Euro fine.
After the trial, Sutil described Hamilton as a "coward" for refusing to attend the hearing, with Hamilton avoiding questions about the issue at McLaren's recent car launch.
But Sutil Sr has now added his own thoughts to the mix, saying that he felt he son "chose the wrong friend" in Hamilton after he missed the trial.
"It's really pathetic," Jorge Sutil was quoted as saying by the Munchner Merkur newspaper, "Lewis Hamilton moved to Monaco and didn't tell Adrian his new phone number. But he often called him if he had personal problems.
"His father sent my son a message that he hopes everything goes well with the hearing. And Lewis Hamilton, the cause of the discussion, didn't do anything. I think my son chose the wrong friend."
He added: "In a situation where Adrian needed support, he could tell his team that he had another engagement. Or he could have called to say that he doesn't want to come [to Munich]. That would have been acceptable.
"But he has not even done it in person. For a great champion, that's a pretty weak performance. I would be ashamed."
He also admitted that the sentence had hurt his son's reputation, but said that he was aiming for a return to Formula One in the future.
"The initial shock has now passed but the whole thing is terribly uncomfortable for him," he lamented, "He's never had to face anything like this and I never thought he'd be in such a situation."
He went on: "It's not just his reputation, it's also about his career. He is one of the top ten Formula One drivers and yet now he is dealing with how to come out from this affair somehow.
"At the moment, he's not talking very much about Formula One. But that was always his dream. Now he needs to get away and then go about making the next steps."
Meanwhile, at the Force India team's recent launch of their new 2012 car, the team's deputy team principal Bob Fernley insisted that the team had not simply sacked Sutil over the trial itself.
"Adrian had been with us for a number of years, and we genuinely believed the future with us was with Paul [di Resta] and Nico [Hulkenberg]," he told reporters at the launch.
Asked if he felt the conviction would now hurt his chances of returning to the sport, he added: "What I am not sure of, and we've not been able to take it in yet, is what the impact will be on his racing career.
"I don't think it will affect him totally, but sponsors and everybody else might have some different views."
Sutil is set to sit out the 2012 season, with the final available seat at HRT having been handed to Narain Karthikeyan last week.
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